In the name of the father.

Dariga Nazarbaeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakhstan leader Nursultan Nazarbaev, has created a new political party, suggesting she will take over as that country's leader. In the male-dominated world of politics in Kazakhstan, where few things are stronger than blood ties, the fact that President Nursultan Nazarbaev has three daughters and no son may be a good thing. Short of a convenient Putin -- the successor handpicked by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin -- Mr. Nazarbaev has to make do with what he has. So it did not come as a total surprise last month when his eldest daughter, the 40-year-old Dariga Nazarbaeva, announced the creation of a new political party. Although last year's strict law on political parties drastically reduced their number from 19 to seven -- and effectively undermined the country's opposition -- the president's support base has not noticeably increased. Three of the surviving parties, Otan, the Civil Party and the Agrarian Party, are pro-presidential but they are poorly organised and rather ineffective. Ms. Nazarbaeva's new political party, Asar (which means "all together"), may thereforee come in handy. Asar started life a few months ago as a social movement set up by the president's daughter to help the poor and needy. But given its lineage, the new baby can safely be expected to receive a lot of tender loving care. Once overshadowed by her powerful and ambitious husband -- who has now been shipped off as an ambassador to Vienna -- Ms. Nazarbaeva has grown from a shy woman barely audible when speaking in public to the self-confident chairman of the Khabar media group, the head of Kazakhstan's journalism association and a publicly acclaimed singer, who recently performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.